The medical profession for many years has used prosthetic devices as joint surfaces to replace defective natural joints. Typically, such devices consist of one or two prosthetic members that are implanted into or attached to the anatomy of the subject at the location of the defective joint. In particular, various types of prosthetic joints have been developed to replace diseased or damaged human toe joints. Toe joint prostheses are known in the art and commonly comprise one or two components: a) having opposed ball and socket parts, and b) individual head or base parts. Examples of prosthetic bone joint devices can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,130; 4,156,296; 4,908,031; 5,326,366; 5,725,585; 5,037,440; and 7,175,667.
Metal prosthetic implant devices, typically made of cobalt chrome, titanium or a titanium alloy, eliminate the health concerns of using silicone devices. When using metal prosthetic implants, either one or both sides of the joint are fitted with a metal implant. However, over a period of time, the bone continues to grow and can overlap the surface of the prosthetic device causing reduced functionality of the joint, which may ultimately require additional surgical procedures. Additionally, these prosthesis components can become loose with time (known as subluxation) and can cause problems with one surface of one of the prosthetic components sliding over a surface of the other prosthetic component that is not properly oriented relative to the one component, or in the case of a partial prosthetic component, malalignment of the opposing joint surface. All of these and other aspects of prior art prosthetic bone joint devices may limit their viability, in some cases ultimately requiring costly additional surgical procedures that can cause the patient unnecessary pain and risk of complications. Thus, there remains a need in the art for a prosthetic implant, and a system for its implantation, that significantly reduces shifting after its implantation, can maintain the same orientation with respect to the joint it is intended to repair, and has improved, long-term viability over previously known prosthetic implants by eliminating bone overgrowth onto the implant, thereby significantly increasing the lifetime of the implant and joint function.